Little Champ
by lcdrsuperseal
Summary: Kid!Steve, inspired by this prompt: "Someone took pity on Steve decided to give him a second chance at life and reverted him back to an age where he was still innocent but beginning to feel unloved/messed with the wrong person on a case and got cursed. 3-5 years old, clings to Danny most of the time." Eventual McDanno


"I just don't get it," Chin said as he continued to scour the internet for anything that would explain Steve's transformation, the rest of the team standing with him around the smart table. Steve was next to Danny, clinging to his pant leg and hiding his face in Danny's thigh as the man placed a hand on his small head. "It doesn't make sense. Steve simply can't be a kid."

"Well he is, so we need to figure out how to change him back! Thompson still isn't talking, so we need to handle it ourselves." Danny sighed in frustration as he went to join Chin in searching online. Steve looked up at Danny, then at the table that had got his attention. He frowned, and released his death-grip on Danny's trousers to grip the table's edge. Steve tried to pull himself up so that he could see what Danny was doing, but Danny firmly placed him back down on the ground.

"No, wanna play!" Steve whined in protest as he stared up at him, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Nope, it's not a toy, Steve." Danny scolded, taking hold of his hand to keep him close by. "I've already told you to not climb the table."

"Sorry, Danno." Steve mumbled, gazing at the floor.

Chin and Kono both looked down at the table and exchanged a look that Danny couldn't quite decipher. "What?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Well…" Chin started to speak but stopped. Danny motioned for him to continue with his free hand. "I just… don't think Steve should be here. He's a kid, what if he finds something that he shouldn't? What if he finds a gun?"

Danny chewed his lip as he thought about it. "I guess you're right… So what am I supposed to do with him?"

While everyone was discussing where he could go, Steve sighed and hid his face back in Danny's leg. _Mommy didn't want me, now Danno…_ Steve screwed his face up as he yanked his hand away, ignoring the shout of "Steve!" from Danny as he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him into his office. He'd not seen his mother since waking up in the interrogation room with just a strange man sitting in a chair. The first person he saw was Danno, who'd scooped him up off of the cold concrete floor and into his arms. He'd found him some proper fitting clothes and wiped his tears away… and now he didn't want him either.

"What the hell?" Danny muttered, leaving Kono and Chin to carry on searching as he made his way into Steve's office. Danny couldn't see him on the first glance, but a sound drew his attention to Steve's desk and he moved the office chair aside and knelt on the floor by the draws.

"Hey, buddy." Danny smiled at the boy huddled in a corner under the desk, peeking up at him from where his face rested on his knees. "How come you ran away?"

Steve sniffed, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. "Danno not want me. Said so."

Danny briefly closed his eyes as he realised that Steve was listening to what everyone was saying around the table. Thompson had said that he had given Steve a second chance at life and reverted him back to an age where he was still innocent but beginning to feel unloved. Until he revealed the way to change him back, Danny figured that all he could do was provide as much love and support as he could. Exposing him to negative thoughts about this situation wouldn't help.

"Oh… that's not true, Danno definitely wants you! I was trying to think of where I could take you, as it's not really safe here."

"... Wanna go home." Steve said quietly.

"Yeah? We can go home if you want, but you need to come out from under here, can you do that for Danno, please?" Danny opened his arms and smiled at him, thankful when Steve crawled over and into his embrace. Danny stood up carefully, holding Steve close to him. Small arms wrapped around his neck and Danny whispered soothing words into the boy's ear as his sobbing eventually dwindled into hiccups.

"Danno?"

"Yeah, babe?" Danny whispered as he gently bounced Steve in his arms.

"Cool boat." Steve pointed to one of the large model ships on the cabinet.

Danny moved closer so that Steve could see it better and watched in amusement as he reached out and ran small fingers over the model. "Yeah, it's a cool boat." He agreed. Steve yawned and sunk back into Danny's body, hiding his face in the crook of his neck.

"Alright, let's go home, champ." Danny smiled, running a hand down the child's back as Steve nodded into his shoulder in agreement.

"Everything alright, Danny?" Chin asked as Danny came back into the bullpen, Steve still in his arms.

"Yeah, we're good thanks. Aren't we, buddy?" Danny looked at Steve, who gave him a sleepy nod as one hand twirled Danny's blonde hair between his fingers.

Both men looked as Kono came towards them and handed a small hold-all to Danny, who took it after making sure he could carry Steve with one arm.

"A few bits from one of our cousins, she's got three boys." Danny blinked at her, and Kono bit her lip. "We don't know how long Steve will be like this, so I thought…"

Danny shook his head quickly. "No! It's fine, thanks Kono. It's just… as you said, we dunno how long..." He dropped his gaze to Steve, who had dozed off and was leaving a small trail of drool on his shirt. "I'll stay at Steve's house until he's back to whatever passes for normal these days. Who knows, maybe it's just one of those 24 hour curses like ' _Liar Liar_ '?"

Chin snorted. "Hopefully, bruh. But, Danny…" He cleared his throat. "While you were in Steve's office, I went back to speak to Thompson. He repeated what he said earlier, that he felt that Steve deserved a second chance, so he turned him back to when Steve first started to feel unloved. He said that Steve won't turn back until he feels loved by, and I quote, 'the right person'. Maybe they exchanged words before it happened, maybe Steve said something, I don't know."

Danny frowned at Chin. "Great… how are we supposed to know who that is?" He sighed, and was about to speak again when Steve stirred in his grip. Danny slung the bag over his shoulder and used his free hand to rub circles on his back while muttering soothing words until Steve settled against him with a happy sigh.

Chin and Kono smirked at each other before looking back at the scene in front of them.

"Yeah… I don't think it'll be too difficult."

* * *

Danny wasn't sure how he did it but he managed to juggle Steve in one arm, the bag full of toys and clothes slung over his shoulder and his set of keys in his spare hand, unlocking Steve's front door and hurrying over to let the bag fall onto the couch instead of the floor.

Danny tried to set Steve on the ground but he shook his head and gripped Danny's shirt tight, little fingers digging in. "No! Wanna stay with Danno!"

"You can, but I need my arms back, buddy." Danny sighed and crouched on the floor. His back and knee were protesting at the awkward position Steve put him in as he refused to release his hold around Danny's neck even though his small feet were on the floor. "You said to me in the car that you were hungry, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well I can't cook anything with you hanging onto me like this, babe." Danny tried to reason, grateful for his fatherly patience and years of bargaining with Grace.

"...'Kay." Steve eventually relented and let go of Danny, who smiled at him as he took a few steps back. Danny's smile quickly faltered at Steve's dejected face, and his wobbling bottom lip.

"Hey now, we'll have none of that." Danny brushed his fingers across Steve's cheek before getting to his feet. "Come on, Danno needs your help to find some food."

Steve gazed up at Danny, as if eyeing him up, before taking his outstretched hand and following Danny to the kitchen.

Steve was like Danny's shadow, one hand always touching his leg as he moved around the kitchen making dinner. As they sat at the table and ate, Danny thought back to something he'd said to Steve when they first met about not being held much as a baby. Steve denied it, but Danny was starting to think that there was some truth in it. He was easily one of the clingiest children Danny had ever met, and maybe Doris and John didn't want to give into their child's demands all the time.

After they'd eaten, Danny searched through the bag that Kono had brought and dug out a few toys, handing them to a happy Steve.

"Danno play too?" Steve looked up at him, and Danny found himself unable to resist the big, green eyes. He thought they were irresistible enough on an adult Steve, but on this version of his partner they were much more so, and ended up sitting on the wooden floor of the living room with Steve playing with the toys.

After a while Danny noticed that Steve was starting to slow down, his eyelids drooping. After he yawned for the third time Danny announced that it was time for bed, much to Steve's disappointment, and he protested loudly as Danny packed the toys away. He didn't want to relinquish his grip on the stuffed bear, so Danny let him keep it to avoid the tantrum he knew would come if he took the toy away.

"But Dannooooo," Steve whined as Danny scooped him up off the floor and carried him upstairs. "'M not tired."

"Yeah you are, buddy, come on." Danny took Steve into the master bedroom and sat him on the bed. He wrestled with a sleepy and limp Steve to get his clothes off and replace them with one of Steve's old SEAL shirts and a pair of gym shorts with the strings done up tight. Danny had to bite back a smirk as he helped Steve under the covers and saw how much the clothes swamped Steve's small frame, and he sat on the edge of the bed and talked to Steve quietly as he settled in the bed, still clutching his toy.

"Love you, Steve. I'll be down the hall if you need anything, okay?" Danny said, only getting a mumble from Steve as he finally succumbed to sleep. He sat on the edge of the bed and made sure that Steve was really asleep before he made his way to the spare bedroom.

Sleep didn't come easy for Danny. He couldn't get his brain to switch off from the events of the day, trying to think of ways that he could prove to Steve that he was loved. Danny had no idea who this 'right person' was that Thompson spoke of in the interview room, but he was sure that they didn't love Steve more than he did. He'd been with Steve through everything over the last few years, and he'd done the same for Danny.

When he thought about it, there wasn't much that Danny wouldn't do for Steve. He loved that man with everything that he had… and he loved the little boy down the hall just as much. Part of him wondered - and hoped, if he was being honest with himself - if he was the 'right person' that had to prove their love to Steve.

Danny just wished that he knew how to prove to Steve that he loved him if he was the one; he thought that Steve already knew that, but it seems that the SEAL was still clueless as to how deep Danny's affection for him went. Is that why Thompson did this to Steve - to make Danny realise?

Danny didn't even know if Steve felt that way about him. Sure, they'd exchanged glances and he'd caught Steve looking longingly at him a few times but that didn't necessarily mean that he was in love with him. And it wasn't something Danny could just ask him out of the blue. And he did want to ask him.

Danny bit his lip as he tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. He found it amazing that Steve had ever fit in the small bed when he was younger, and chuckled at the thought of his much larger frame trying to squeeze into it now.

The thought made a nice change to what was going round his head before, and relaxed him enough to finally feel himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

Danny was woken several hours later by an unknown noise. Blinking his eyes open he saw that it was still dark, and as he sat up on an elbow Danny couldn't hear anything. Shrugging, he was about to settle down under the covers until he heard it again, a faint sound coming from down the hall. Danny sighed and didn't move as he listened carefully, not surprised when he heard the tell-tale sound of small feet padding down the corridor.

Steve sniffed as he made his way into Danny's room, light coming from the open window. He walked over to the bed, dragging his stuffed bear behind him before reaching up with his free hand to pull at the bedsheets.

"Danno?"

Danny turned fully onto his side and looked down, smiling sadly when he saw the tear tracks on Steve's face. "Hey, champ. What's the matter?"

"Bad dream…" Steve mumbled into the covers, voice wavering.

"Alright buddy, c'mere." Danny helped him to climb up onto the bed and into his arms, toy in tow. Steve burrowed into his embrace under the covers and Danny held him as he cried in relief.

"Hey, hey, what's all this?" Danny asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I couldn't find you!" Steve sobbed, dampening Danny's shirt with a combination of tears and snot.

"Aw, Steve…" Danny rubbed circles on Steve's back. "Well you found me now, huh? Danno's here, Danno's got you."

Steve nodded into his chest, little fingers twisted in Danny's shirt. Danny thought he was on his way to sleep, but then a tiny voice piped up.

"Don't go, Danno."

Danny didn't hesitate in his answer as he pressed a kiss to top of Steve's head, smiling when he heard the boy sigh happily as he buried his face in Danny's chest.

"I'm not going anywhere, okay? I promise. Danno loves you."

Danny hadn't even opened his eyes yet, but he had the distinct feeling that he was being watched from where he lay on his side. He also could feel that his arms were empty. He hoped that Steve wasn't causing any trouble in the house…

Danny blearily opened his eyes, resigning himself to the fact that he'd shortly be cleaning up whatever mess Steve was making, and had to blink several times to be sure of what he was seeing - Steve.

 _His_ Steve. Very much an adult, still wearing the shirt and gym shorts that Danny had put on him the night before, laying on his side and looking at him with a strange expression on his face.

"Steve?"

"Hey." Steve whispered.

"You-you're back!" Danny exclaimed. "Do you remember what happened?"

Steve shrugged. "Sort of… Bits of it, I guess." Then his gaze softened and a flicker of a smile crossed his face. "But I remember you, and what you did for me."

"You do?" Danny bit his lip as Steve nodded.

"Yeah… I remember. Not all of it, mind. I remember talking to that guy Thompson in the interrogation room, and bits after that. Then the next clear thing is waking up here with you."

Danny sighed, running a hand down his face. Steve frowned, and reached across the small space between them to pull his hand away. "Danny… I remember what he said about what would turn me back."

Danny's eyes went wide, and looked over Steve's shoulder. "Yeah… I, er… I know what he said too, babe."

Steve still held onto Danny's hand and gave it a small squeeze, getting Danny to look at him. "Danno…" Steve took a deep breath, briefly chewing on his bottom lip. "Did you mean what you said last night?"

Danny's breath caught in his throat as his brain registered what was asked of him. He had the opportunity to get the one thing that he'd craved, ever since he'd laid eyes on the man in his garage three years ago, if he was being honest with himself.

When Danny continued to just stare ahead, Steve began to get nervous at his lack of response. "Danny?"

"Sorry," Danny shook his head. "I was miles away, Steve."

"So? Did you mean it?"

Danny's tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip, and he didn't miss Steve's eyes following it's path. "...Yeah, babe. I meant it."

Steve felt his heartbeat speed up, but needed to be sure that Danny was on the same page as him before he did anything. "As a friend, or… more?"

Danny's face softened at Steve's hopeful expression, and linked the fingers of their joined hands together. "More, Steve. Much more."

Steve's face erupted into a mega-watt grin. "Danny, I…" He had to take several deep breaths before continuing. "I love you too."

Danny was sure he was sporting his own grin; he wasn't focused on anything other than Steve as he closed the gap between them and lightly brushed his lips against the other man's.


End file.
